The World on a Plate: A Tour through the History of America’s Ethnic Cuisine (At Table)

The World on a Plate is the story of how immigrant families have changed and influenced our food and created a uniquely American culinary pastiche. Joel Denker, a longtime food and travel writer and a scholar of American folklore, conducted fascinating interviews with a range of ethnic-food merchants in crafting a history of our colorful

The World on a Plate is the story of how immigrant families have changed and influenced our food and created a uniquely American culinary pastiche. Joel Denker, a longtime food and travel writer and a scholar of American folklore, conducted fascinating interviews with a range of ethnic-food merchants in crafting a history of our colorful food makers—the grocers, vendors, manufacturers, importers, restaurateurs—and the products they have given us.

Product Features

Used Book in Good Condition

Comments

A Spicy Little Book Joel Denker, the author, is a history professor and very serious food hobbyest and writer. But don’t be put off by the history professor background. The World on a Plate is, thankfully, intended for the general reader, not to bolster Denker’s reputation among his academic colleagues. This is not a comprehensive or heavily analytical work. Rather, the book is an enjoyable, quick read that tells us a variety of stories, many with human interest, of the introduction of foods to the United…

Disappointing One of the other reviews mentions that this book isn’t overly analytical. That’s an understatement – this book barely holds together as a book, and there’s no narrative through-line to the book. It’s a collection of uneven essays and certain parts are quite a bit more detailed than others. The author pretty much acknowledges this in the introduction. There’s simply not enough meat here – it’s a loose collection of fun facts and information that seems assembled from other secondary sources. Put…